Closer
by TheKillingJar
Summary: Just a little hanging out between a Britney-wannabe and a goth. Henrietta sighs, finding herself strangely content. Henrietta/Mercedes.
**A lot of people draw Henrietta paired with the Raisins' girls on deviantart. Blame them for my fondness for this weird pairing.**

* * *

 _"Here comes the breath before we get a little bit closer_

 _Here comes the rush before we touch, come a little closer_

 _The doors open, the wind is really blowing_

 _The night sky is changing overhead"_

 _~Closer, Tegan and Sara_

* * *

Henrietta is adamant that the "opposites attract" saying is complete and utter bullshit. In her defense, she and Mercedes really weren't opposites. Different; fuck yes, but not opposite.

It wasn't as if the the blonde wore excessive amounts of pink in contrast to the goth girl's constant black clothing. If Henrietta really gave the subject much of a thought she'd realize she never saw the other girl clad in that color.

The blonde teen was...odd. An enigma of sorts. Very polite and sociable, which, admittedly, was rather dissimilar to Henrietta's own personality. At the same time there was also an air of professionalism and intelligence that surrounded Mercedes. Despite a few of her ditsy moments. Still, she had mannerisms vastly different than the majority of teen aged girls, which was very non-conformist. Mercedes' two priorities were (#1) her job and (#2) school. Thus, she never wasted her time on partying or leisurely shopping. The lack of both were highly appreciated by Henrietta.

Overall, she had been highly surprised when the other teen decided to waste her time imposing her company on Henrietta. No opposites don't attract, but the sight of a primped up Mercedes sitting on her red carpet was pretty damning. Her white sundress and golden locks were ill suited for the dark depths of Henrietta's room.

She didn't speak a whole lot and knew when it was time to shut up, perfectly content listening to Henrietta read poetry aloud. Much to the goth's ire, the other teen was affectionate and insisted on resting her head in her lap or curling up beside her while she read. However Henrietta quickly grew used to it.

Two months of random meet ups in the noirette's room or over coffee at Denny's and something changed. She was no longer in her comfort zone.

White walls and an impeccably clean floor. This was Mercedes' territory. The faint scent of clean linens and something flowery made her long for the powerful aromas of incense and nicotine. She shifted uncomfortably.

"Take a seat anywhere," the blonde smiled, "I'll make some coffee." The door shut softy behind her.

Gingerly, she sat on the floor, her back pressed to the end of the bed. She was vaguely reminded of Pete and Michael who always sat at the foot of her bed.

The door opened in a whisp and Mercedes stood before her, a blue coffee mug held in each of her hands. Her knees bent a bit and her arm stretched out to offer one to the other girl. Henrietta wrapped her pudgy fingers around warm glass and took a cautious sip. She was mildly surprised that Mercedes had already memorized how she took it; just a hint of creamer - _nothing_ else.

"Good?"

"...Much to my astonishment, it is." Mercedes beamed at her. Hurriedly, Henrietta adverted her eyes and cursed her ears for heating up.

"Wanna watch something?"

"Do you have anything I'd want to watch?"

Immediately, the blonde sprang up and headed for the small shelf beneath the the t.v mounted on her wall. The shelf held a small collection of dvds. Most of which being romance. She plucked the first case in the lineup and turned on her heels. She presented her choice with a wide smile.

Henrietta rolled her eyes. It was Gia, one of the few movies they could both agree on and it also happened to be Mercedes' favorite.

"Whatever." She responded and watched in mild amusement as the other girl giddily put it into the dvd player. Henrietta already saw the movie with Mercedes at least three times and knew she'd end up fetching tissues for the blonde. Every emotional scene seemed to tug on her heartstrings no matter how many times she watched the film.

She settled herself beside Henrietta, snuggled up against her. As predicted little tears ran down Mercedes' cheeks at various points through out the film, fucking up her mascara.

Henrietta rolled her eyes. _"At least she's a graceful crier."_ She noted inwardly.

Mercedes' stretched dreamily as the credits rolled. "'Love it every time! Ya' know," she began. "I wanna be just like her."

She scoffed. "AIDS and all?"

"You know what I mean," she pouted. "To travel everywhere, have everyone know your name. T-to have someone that truly cares about you."

"And she screwed that one up. Fucked the girl over again and again. Even if she was stupid enough to get back with her Gia went and got herself _an immune system destroying disease_ and died. So much for _together forever_ and all that lovey crap."

"You're wrong." Her voice had the most peculiar, bell-like quality when it was that soft. Softer than rose petals.

"Is that so?" The glare on her face and the snarky malice that coated her words were not intentional, it was merely natural for the gloomy girl. Just as breathing.

"Your wrong. She didn't make a single mistake. Those two just lived life. They're one, even after all of that. After everything. Death isn't what separates people, it's the the lack of love."

She couldn't put her finger on it but Henrietta was pretty sure she was quoting something.

"To die young and tragically. Hardcore. I guess I wouldn't mind that life." She mused. "'Too beautiful to die. Too wild to live,' deep."

"Very." Mercedes responded with a roll of her eyes. She stood and fished around in one of her designer bags in search of something. The teen pulled her iPod from the purse and headed toward the white wooded desk beside the window. She placed the small device in it's doc as Henrietta took the last swig of her coffee. The Raisins' Girl remained by the window, staring out of it. Perhaps admiring the sun as it began to set.

The gentle golden tone of the lowered sun outlined her tall, willowy figure as Henrietta eyed her back. Strands of corn-silk hair shimmered and when the noirette's eyes continued to travel downward she noticed how the other girl's spare waist was hugged by her tight peach top.

A knot formed in her stomach and her face flushed, but she quickly dismissed it as a need for nicotine.

"Mind if I smoke?" Before she received a response she pulled a cigarette from her pack.

She turned from the window and shook her head. "Not at all." She smiled.

Henrietta slid the stog into her holder and pressed on her intricate silver zippo. Impatiently, she waited for the flame to burn the tip before she dropped the zippo back into her bra. A familiar sensation washed over her as nicotine consumed her insides. She exhaled fiery smoke.

Music played from Mercedes' iPod and Henrietta grimaced. The blonde listened to a quirky combination primarily comprised of Springsteen and t.A.T.u with a few modern pop and R&B artists thrown in the mix.

Grey ash fell onto her dress and her chubby fingers quickly brushed it off to the carpet, not giving one fuck about the immaculate fibers.

"Do you wanna write or something?"

Henrietta took another drag, entertained by how well the blonde knew her.

"I doubt you keep a sketch book laying around."

"Mmm, very doubtful. Will printer paper do?"

The noirette huffed.

" _Fine_."

"I'll be right back!" She slipped through the door. Henrietta continued to smoke, fantasizing about having enough cigarettes to turn the pristine white walls yellow. A minuscule grin formed on purple lips as she thought of her own walls, which would surely be stained darkly if it weren't for the layer of black paint. The cherry of the cigarette fell into the empty mug and she let the butt fall in as well.

When Mercedes reentered she went straight for her desk and grabbed her algebra 3-4 text book before she handed both that and a blank piece of paper to Henrietta. The other girl smiled somewhat, only slightly grateful that Mercedes remembered she'd need a hard surface to work on. No way in hell was she going to get up and sit at the pale desk with little pink flowers delicately painted upon it.

"Uh, pencil." The goth demanded.

"Oh! Here." Another trip to the desk and back.

"And there's no way in fucking hell I'm listening to this Lorde bitch. Change this shit."

Mercedes only laughed, not bothering to do so. She instead plopped down on her bed, her head rested on Henrietta's thick shoulder. The goth scowled, not really troubled by someone watching her as she worked, but by the fact that somebody didn't follow an order she gave. She grit her teeth and scrambled her brain for inspiration. She seriously wanted to create but had no muse - other than the blonde bombshell who invaded her personal space, but that was _not_ an option.

Her eyes caught a bouquet of lilies seated at the desk. Pure alabaster flowers stood proudly in a blue and white marble vase. Henrietta wondered if Mercedes purchased the flowers as room decor or if some customer from Raisins bought them for her. Probably the latter. A frown took shape on her mouth without her realizing it.

She began to draw a single lily, dying. With light yet furious strokes the wilted flower appeared on paper. Vines followed, thorny ropes to strangle the lily. Above the flower strangulation she drew a pair of lips smiling menacingly. Razor sharp incisors poked from betwixt the lips. A stem sprouted from the base of the mouth.

"You always make the strangest things." Mercedes whispered in her ear. She did her best not to shiver.

"You know, there's actually a flower in the amazon that looks like big red lips. It's aptly called "Hooker Lips.""

Mercedes blinked before she smiled. "Really?" A giggle escaped her throat.

Henrietta always hated it when someone made random physical contact with her being, but Mercedes was like an extra limb that could be tolerated rather than hacked off. An extra limb that put made her feel weirdly nervous.

The song shifted to something by t.A.T.u. A song that's descriptions were a little too pretty for her tastes, but the accented voices were sort of ethereal which made shadowing her art easier to concentrate on.

The blonde slipped from the bed to the floor. Henrietta hardly spared her a glance. She knew Mercedes - unlike herself - could not be placated with sitting in one place for long. No, she'd leave their little hick town and probably travel the world - if only for her modeling career - and Henrietta would remain in South Park.

Thoughts of every aspect of her life remaining the same used to make her feel satisfied. Now it made her chest squirm with an abnormal sense of melancholy.

"Are you going to be an artist after you graduate?" The other girl questioned mostly out of boredom than curiosity.

"We all are." Henrietta didn't have to clarify "we", she knew Mercedes would assume she meant the rest of the goth gang. If she wasn't smart enough to deduce such, well, Henrietta didn't care. "Starving ones, wallowing in our unappreciated genius. Forever trapped in the eternal winter that is South Park."

"You're not trapped, you like it here. Eternal winter is _so goth._ "

"And so nonconformist. Is that why you hate it here?"

"I don't hate it here, there's just more out there."

The song in the background faded into a different one but neither of them took much note of it.

"And you'll see it all once you graduate and never look back."

"Nah~ I'll always be back. I have family and friends here. Gia _always_ came back to Linda, after all!"

Henrietta scoffed, finding that hard to believe. She was no longer in the mood to create images. Oh well she was pretty much done shading anyways. Hastily, she scrawled her name in the bottom corner of the page.

All the while, Mercedes observed the subtle changes in what she considered to be her companion. As if something about the conversation had put her off.

"Henrietta, you and I are friends. I don't have a lot of people who I just hang out with but I really like being with you." Her index finger began to twirl subconsciously around a sunny lock of hair. "Annnd I don't want it to end anytime soon, soooo, if we do part ways we'll stay in contact and stuff."

"Nobody ever stays in contact. _Ever_. No matter how hard they try."

Mercedes shook her head.

"You don't listen well, do you?" This earned her a glare. "You just don't get it. Gia and Linda were only suppose to meet once, but their paths kept crossing."

The feeling in every fiber within Henrietta fled.

"Are you... _implying_ something?"

The blonde giggled and leaned closer to the goth.

"If it pleases." Her voice was hushed as she continued to close the distance between them. The touch of her sweetly-glossed lips to Henrietta's was feather light.

The noirette's eyelids drooped and she squeezed her formerly forgotten mug between her stout fingers. She struggled to ignore the tightening in her chest and the flutter in her lower abdomen, and kissed back without much confidence.

It didn't last long, a bit of pressure and a few gentle movements.

When Mercedes pulled away Henrietta used her gloved hand to wipe the high-end gloss left on her mouth - effectively smearing her own expensive lipstick.

"If you say anything about you being a queen and me a king I'll snap your twiggy neck."

"Whatever. I know you're a natural blonde too so there really wouldn't be a point now would there?" She asked cheekily. Henrietta considered informing her that, unlike her brother, she had naturally brown hair that she smothered in black dye once every month. She didn't. "Wanna watch Coco Chanel and Igor Stravinsky?"

"Whatever."

* * *

 _"Here comes the heat before we meet, a little bit close_

 _Here comes the spark before the dark, come a little closer_

 _The lights are off and the sun is finally setting_

 _The night sky is changing overhead"_

 _~Close, Tegan and Sara_

* * *

 **Two on going stories and what do I do? Write a totally separate one shot.**

 **Randy made a brief appearance here in the form of Lorde. If only via song :p**

 **In the show, Mercedes is clearly the head Raisins girl. She is even featured on Raisins advertisements. She also comes off as very professional. Thus, the idea of her being dedicated and having aspirations of being a model were born. Her favorite movie is about the famous model, Gia, who was a lesbian and had a dramatic on and off again relationship with a stylist. She likes Coco Channel for the same reason, as she's a major contributor to the fashion/modeling world.**

 **The whole king and queen and hair color conversation was based on a quote by Gia. "A woman is not a real woman unless she's a blonde." She is a brunette and Linda is a blonde. Gia later claims all she wants is to be king and Linda her queen...I made this far too centered around a movie. Oh well.**

 **Henrietta calling Mercedes neck "twiggy" doubles as a reference to Twiggy, another famous model.**

 **Mercedes was indeed quoting something earlier, from a movie based on the rise and fall of Jim Morrison and his band, The Doors. It's aptly titled The Doors.**


End file.
